The warm weather birds are returning. And while the land, too, has returned from under the snow, the rivers and lakes are still holding vast expanses of ice. I was watching these seagulls bickering, swooping and foraging at the open edges of the water, catching little fish and the lovely afternoon light. Some of the slow-shutter-speed images made me think of paper cranes which explains the title ‘Origami Gulls’.
© Karen McRae, 2015
draw and shoot 
Very lovely!
Wow ! Specially the last one, and the second last one ( with a trace of the wing leaving a ring on the water, and all those wavy lines all over the place ), and …
These birds make such wonderful, intriguing shapes Karen – the movement and speed gives such a sense of joy and the awakening of spring. Wonderful juddering repeating patterns and abstract forms.
Ah, the second to last one with the Degas composition and the highlights stitched throughout. Just magical. And the last one had me saying out loud, “Jonathan Livingston Seagull”.
“He was not bone and feather but a perfect idea of freedom flight…” ~Richard Bach
Mystically beautiful, as always.
Lovely, Karen!
i wish i had painted them myself 😉 i’m deeply inspired by these beautiful poetic images!
they are fantastic! great!!
Beautiful work as always!
Lovely images Karen! The movement you’ve captured is lovely and I can understand the association you made with paper cranes. Fabulous!
Glorious, graceful, motion! The second image (dark back round), is folding while we watch. Wonderful!
Wonderful…Just the right shutter speed (of course…as always) to get the desired and stunning result.
What a great way to take this idea..particularly love the last but one – again as with so many of your images I want to see them large in an open gallery space..
I love your title, Karen. Very fitting. In addition to capturing the graceful shapes, the light on them is gorgeous. I wish I still new how to make a paper crane.
I just love how you create movement to capture movement in your work.
What joyful, unfettered beauty. I love the way Nature’s creatures are always most beautiful simply by being themselves, in the most extravagantly ordinary fashion. Thank you for capturing and sharing these! ❤
Good images, Karen – the 4th down gets to me particularly. Adrian
A dreamworld of motion 🙂 Love it!
Beautiful shots, Karen. The final one is tremendous – iconic in its birdness.
Birds come and go without a trace, what a great teaching!
How did I miss this majesty? Happy to be here.
Amazing! ❤️